The NDP needs a better story

OAKVILLE, ONT.—If the federal NDP is ever going to have a hope of reversing its sagging political fortunes, it needs a better story. After all, the party’s current narrative is wall-to-wall depressing. It has in Jagmeet Singh an uninspiring leader and who seemingly lacks media savvy; it’s mired in a pitiable financial state and, of course, the party is lagging far behind in the polls. Given this sad state of affairs, media coverage of the NDP is going to be mostly negative. How could it not be? And, unfortunately for the New Democrats, negative news coverage makes all the other bad stuff worse: it further cements the idea that Singh is out of his league, it makes more difficult for the party to fundraise and it could drive the NDP even further down in the polls. In other words, the NDP is caught up in a vortex of doom. Luckily, there’s a way for the NDP to escape this dismal trap. All the party needs to do is give the media a new and better narrative, one that will hopefully reverse the vortex. So how do you do this? How do you alter the dour reality of today to create a cheerier narrative for tomorrow? Well, the most obvious way is to embrace and exude a sense of optimism, to take a lemon and make lemonade. So, for example, the NDP could point to its current bleak standing in the polls and put a positive spin on it by saying something along the lines of “The Conservatives and Liberals are clearly stagnating right now; they’ve peaked. Only New Democrats have room to grow.” And by the way, there’s no reason why, once voters start paying more attention to politics, the NDP shouldn’t gain a little traction and positive movement in the polls. For one thing, despite its current woes, the federal NDP still has a strong brand, so when push comes to shove, many wavering NDPers will likely return to the party out of a sense of tribal loyalty. Also, once the election is underway, the NDP will have an opportunity, if it has a good communications plan in place, to jumpstart its flat-lining poll numbers with a persuasive media ad campaign. Plus, if Jagmeet Singh can turn in a good performance at the first televised leadership debate, that too could help push up the NDP’s numbers. And finally, given how the Liberals and Conservatives will likely spend much of the campaign savagely attacking each other, Singh will have a chance to define himself as the “only positive voice in the race.” Such a stance would likely appeal to many Canadians. At any rate, my point is, there could, at some point early on in the election race, be a factual basis in the polling data to support the NDP’s optimistic narrative that it’s heading in the right direction. And once that uptick occurs, once the NDP starts to creep up in the polls, New Democrats can go back to the media and say, “You see! We told you our support would grow. We’re a party on the rise; we have momentum!” If the party can do that, if it can prepare the media to look for a better NDP narrative, good things will follow. A party that’s perceived to have momentum enjoys more positive stories in the media, which makes it easier to do fundraising, which makes it easier to get the attention of undecided voters. Will having a better story ensure the NDP achieves success? Nope. But it will give a party something it currently lacks: a fighting chance. Gerry Nicholls is a communications consultant. The Hill Times

The NDP needs a better story

If the party can prepare the media to look for a better NDP narrative, good things will follow.

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The NDP needs a better story

If the party can prepare the media to look for a better NDP narrative, good things will follow.

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